Winnipeg Retail

[esquire]

^ I think that type of development model with the big department store anchors owning the store's property along with a stake in the mall itself is pretty common. Isn't it also common with power centres? I was under the impression that the likes of Walmart were part owners of the big box developments around their locations, which stands to reason given how much traffic they drive.

[cllew]

Sobey's is doing that with their Hopewell REIT.

The River East Safeway mall (which was developed by Safeway before the sale to Sobey's) and the Sobey's Kildonan Green mall in Transcona come to mind

[StNorberter]

Originally Posted by cllew

Staples Portage Place also had in store signage saying they are reducing their hours, I wonder if its related to the Bay hours change?

Probably.

Way back in the day, the Bay used to be open until 9pm M-F. When they reduced their hours till 6, it pretty much killed any sales for PP shopson the west side, especially those on the skywalk to the Bay. I remember a few nights during the week when the Bay closed at 6, and the skywalk shop I worked at being open until 9 and having $0 in sales.

[cslusarc]

In the late '90s I do remember the Bay Downtown being open Monday to Wednesday & Saturday 10am to 6pm, and Thursday & Friday 10am to 9pm with its current Noon until 5pm on Sundays. During the holiday season it was open until 9pm on weekdays.

If I remember correctly, the Bay Downtown has really weak sales figures on Sundays outside of the Christmas season.

[Jeff]

these malls are taking a beating lately!

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/lingerie...park-1.4760363

[pegcity]

Originally Posted by Jeff

these malls are taking a beating lately!

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/lingerie...park-1.4760363

Everybody buys lingerie from Amazon nowadays.

[CoryB]

Pier 21 is obviously closing their second (and last) Winnipeg store.

I has also heard rumblings on a number of retailers that will be closing stores which is fairly normal for January just nothing overly confirmed yet.

[vjose32]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Pier 21 is obviously closing their second (and last) Winnipeg store.

I has also heard rumblings on a number of retailers that will be closing stores which is fairly normal for January just nothing overly confirmed yet.

Where do you hear this?

[CoryB]

Pier 21 is fairly obvious with the signs in the windows of their last location on Dakota.

It is also fairly open knowledge that EB Games parent GameStop has been running basically break even for years. With closing many stores in their EB Games Australia chain and their UK based competitor GAME also closing a bunch of stores and rumors of store closures coming to GameStop USA and elsewhere in Europe the writing is on the wall, especially with how overbuilt they are locally.

The other unnamed (at this time) retailers come from people I know working locally. Apparently there have been management layoffs in a few chains. Usually chains has ratios that they like to keep in mind so changes there point towards possible changes in store counts. Every year at this time there is a round of closures as different companies/locations push to maximize revenue through the holiday season which just ended.

[SpongeG]

Pier 1 is closing over 400 stores.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/06/pier...aboolainternal

[cheswick]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Pier 1 is closing over 400 stores.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/06/pier...aboolainternal

First Pier 21 and now this!

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Originally Posted by cheswick

First Pier 21 and now this!

It ap”piers” so... I know I know, couldn’t help it

[armorand93]

The retail apocalypse is upon us all...

Calgarys been hit bad, tons have been closing out here, but its mostly just financial out here, with lack of disposable income by the majority of customers... well that and they're mostly the companies that cater to the upper middle classes.

Winnipegs case? I mean yeah, lack of customers, online sales and all - but theres one issue overlooked upon lately, and its widescale theft. For some of the store closings and cutbacks across Winnipeg, how much theft is happening, that might be forcing healthy or breakeven businesses, to cut back, and maybe even close up shop?

Example: downtown Winnipeg theft rates. How many retailers have specifically left, because of theft? And not just a lack of sales?

[pacman]

Originally Posted by armorand93

The retail apocalypse is upon us all...

Calgarys been hit bad, tons have been closing out here, but its mostly just financial out here, with lack of disposable income by the majority of customers... well that and they're mostly the companies that cater to the upper middle classes.

Winnipegs case? I mean yeah, lack of customers, online sales and all - but theres one issue overlooked upon lately, and its widescale theft. For some of the store closings and cutbacks across Winnipeg, how much theft is happening, that might be forcing healthy or breakeven businesses, to cut back, and maybe even close up shop?

Example: downtown Winnipeg theft rates. How many retailers have specifically left, because of theft? And not just a lack of sales?

Are those rhetorical questions? I don't know but you must because you already have a formed opinion. Please let us know the answer... how many retailers have left downtown because of theft?

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by armorand93

The retail apocalypse is upon us all...

Calgarys been hit bad, tons have been closing out here, but its mostly just financial out here, with lack of disposable income by the majority of customers... well that and they're mostly the companies that cater to the upper middle classes.

Winnipegs case? I mean yeah, lack of customers, online sales and all - but theres one issue overlooked upon lately, and its widescale theft. For some of the store closings and cutbacks across Winnipeg, how much theft is happening, that might be forcing healthy or breakeven businesses, to cut back, and maybe even close up shop?

Example: downtown Winnipeg theft rates. How many retailers have specifically left, because of theft? And not just a lack of sales?

Ummm probably none? lol. How many retail spots have left downtown recently? I can only think of Tiny Feast and I think that was related to a divorce. The most hard-hit by theft are probably Dollarama and Giant Tiger and it doesn't seem like they're going anywhere.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by armorand93

The retail apocalypse is upon us all...

Winnipegs case? I mean yeah, lack of customers, online sales and all - but theres one issue overlooked upon lately, and its widescale theft.

Pretty on point there. Reality is if you have fewer/smaller stores you need fewer employees and pay less in terms of rent. Online is huge too as you can have far more limited stock in store and ship from store or browser to home. Lots of people here don't want to acknowledge it is happening in growing ways. Sure some of those old timers might prefer going in store but when the retailer can increase revenue, reduce inventory write-downs due to stock in the wrong locations, significantly reduce product theft and lower the end price to the consumer what customers prefer matters a whole lot less.

And yes, the growing rates of thefts from stores is a huge issue currently. It is a non-value add increase to the overall operation costs of the store.

[esquire]

I can't recall who but some industry expert was quoted in the paper recently saying that Winnipeg's high shoplifting rate has deterred many chains from opening locations downtown. So maybe that's where the impact is being felt.

If you remove theft from the equation, downtown could be a half decent retail area... maybe on par with a secondary mall like Garden City or something like that. But if theft ends up eating your margins then yeah, you aren't going to bother opening a store there.

Businesses that don't carry things you can steal seem to be thriving downtown (restaurants, services). It's the places with actual inventory that seem to be more and more conspicuous by their absence.

[lilwayne]

La senza closed because they already have victoria secret store in the same mall.. just was the most logically move to make

[OTA in Winnipeg]

7-11 closed last month at William and Isabel for this very reason. Another one on Salter over the bridge closed years ago, same reason. Sargent and Isabel, same. Theft is bad at that Giant Tiger on Ellice I hear.

[lilwayne]

Theft is bad at walmarts shopper drug marts every store really.. can't stop it really security isnt trained to stop and detain most sites have a policies in place that make it easy for criminals to steal.. plus i doubt a security gaurd is going to risk thier lives to stop someone from stealing 20 bux worth of merchandise